Marlowe’S Attitudes Towards Christianity In The T

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Marlowe’s attitudes towards Christianity in The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus The reformation took place around 100 years before Marlowe wrote The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. The play includes religious elements like God, angels, devils, original sins etc. Marlowe’s attitudes towards Protestantism and Catholicism are not ensured because he had a vague religious belief under the rule of Elizabeth I, who only allowed Protestantism. In my opinion, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is a pro-Protestantism play which mocks at Catholicism ideas and promotes the Five Solas; however, Marlowe also presents his doubt on ideas of Calvinism, a division of Protestantism. Marlowe proves that refusing “Sola Scriptura”, a Protestantism belief, will pull people from God by the description of Faustus’ desire for magic knowledge, misinterpretation of the Bible and the resulting ending. “Sola Scriptura” includes four ideas, which are necessity, sufficiency, inerrancy and clarity. It states that people can be saved and go to heaven by the Bible alone. Faustus ignores some of these ideas so that he is damned to hell at the end. Faustus has read the Bible, at least some parts of it. It seems that he can be saved from the scripture because he has done what is necessary. However, his misinterpretation of the Bible rejects the idea of clarity and inerrancy. He reads the Bible alone without discussion with the church and tries to define what the Bible means by himself. He attempts to make humans unforgivable in front of God by stating “The reward of sin is death”. He tries to prove this statement by his selective quoting from the New Testament in the Bible: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us”. Very importantly, he neglects the next line that gives the complete and true meaning: “If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and

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